I'm a big fan of Fox News's The Five, and, yes, I even enjoy the fact that they have a liberal voice as part of it. I think there's a lot more value in different opinions being expressed than if the show were just five conservatives all the time. And The Five has had quite a few different liberal voices over the years. Juan Williams, Geraldo Rivera, Harold Ford Jr., and of course, Jessica Tarlov.
Tarlov, in particular, is amusing because Greg Gutfeld or Jesse Watters almost always destroy her after she spouts her DNC talking points. Reports on those fiery exchanges are always a lot of fun for me. Several PJ Media readers have said in the comments that they wish Fox News would fire her. Well, we have some news on that.
Fox News just signed Tarlov to a new three-year contract.
Tarlov opened up about the new deal, and her seat at that table, in a recent interview with Marie Claire.
TV Insider has more:
Episodes often get heated, with Tarlov having to fend off multiple arguments at once from her conservative cohosts. She said she usually gets about 90 seconds to respond, so she has to be precise. Sometimes she’ll open with a quip, like telling Watters he could be a better White House spokesperson than the actual press secretary.
Tarlov called this tactic her “olive branch,” a compliment disguised as a dig that might soften things so she can get her points across without being interrupted. “If I’m going to get 90 seconds, I want to make the most of it,” she stated.
Despite how contentious the show often gets, Tarlov described her fellow panelists as friends, and not just the women but the men too. “Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld actually care about me as a person,” she revealed. “And that doesn’t make them soften their political opinions, even though I think that they should in some cases, especially when they’re enormously wrong.”
Those friendships extend beyond the workplace. Tarlov revealed how she and Gutfeld regularly text throughout the week, and she’s even been to his apartment and his daughter’s first birthday party. She also texts with Watters’ wife, Emma DiGiovine, and recently went out for dinner and a Broadway play with Perino and Compagno.
Tarlov chalked the friendships up to seeing her co-hosts as full people rather than as "a set of political opinions." She said it comes from "fundamentally understanding them as people and how they think about politics," and added that she's come to realize Watters and Gutfeld, in particular, don't treat politics as the most important thing in the world.
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That’s the difference between conservatives and liberals, isn’t it? We’ve reported before about how liberals are more willing to sever ties with family over politics because their political views are the most important thing to them, but they’re so sensitive to their views being questioned that they have to surround themselves only with people who agree with them, even if it means estranging themselves from parents and siblings.
That’s why Tarlov’s contract extension doesn’t bother me. Sure, she’s not the smartest liberal co-host on The Five, but she goes it, takes her beating, and still continues to show up. As a conservative, I believe the left and right should talk to each other, not retreat into their own echo chambers.
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